Stories & Bricks - Graceful, Humble & Quiet
The Fulling team has begun a new video lesson! Each week in our staff meetings, we watch a culture & leadership video to aid in our professional and personal development. We are currently watching “Stories and Bricks” from John Delony. Delony was one of the featured speakers at the most recent EntreLeadership Summit and we will be watching the recording of his lesson from the Summit. Follow along each week as we learn how to deal with the bricks in our backpacks.
Delony starts this portion of his lesson by listing the different notifications, “bells”, and alarms that constantly go off in our everyday lives. Text messages, phone calls, emails and apps are constantly ringing in our ears. The alarms keep going off but we just turn them off or ignore them. He explains that these alarms represent undealt-with-trauma which leads to addiction. Yes, there are the typical addictions like drinking or gambling, but there are other ones that are not talked about as much like being a “workaholic” or aggressive driver.
Delony then dives into the answer to “How do we become well?” He said the only way we can become well is to be willing to do the work and examine one’s bricks. If you are willing, then the way to wellness “starts with being graceful, humble and, most importantly, quiet,” says Delony. To be a good leader, you have to know what you are talking about and be wiling to admit when you are wrong. Our perspectives may change as we grow and learn from mistakes or past experiences. It’s okay, even encouraged, to say “I changed my mind.”
As you examine your bricks, you should “demand evidence” from them of if they are actually true. “If your life is a story,” says Delony, “so much of our energy is spent holding a pen trying to go back and edit things that have already happened.” But those things happened, period. We can’t edit the past, so we must move forward. A big part of this is forgiving ourselves, letting it go and writing a better future.
Stay tuned to hear more of Delony’s story and how you can deal with the bricks in your backpack.
Food for thought…
Is it hard for you to admit to being wrong?
Do you have a hard time ‘demanding evidence’ from your bricks?